Dassault Rafale Coming Soon: Check Out IAF's Strong Fighter Jet Fleet

Today evening the first batch of five Rafale fighter aircraft will reach India, after crossing 7000-km long journey from France, the home country of Dassault Aviation, manufacturer of Rafale jets. The five jets consist of 3-single seater, and 2-double seater landed safely in Al Dhafra airbase in the UAE yesterday after a 7-hour sortie from France.

The jets will be formally inducted in the Indian Air Force on July 29 at the Ambala Airbase, located near the LoC to avoid any misadventure from across the border.

Have a look at the list of active fighter jets used by the Indian Air Force, from Sukhoi Su-30MKI to the Tejas LCA and the latest Rafale.

Rafale

In September 2016, India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at the cost of Rs 58,000 crore. The aircraft can carry potent weapons and missiles, and the first squadron of the aircraft will be deployed at Ambala air force station, the most strategically located bases of the IAF. The Indo-Pak border is around 220 km away. At Hasimara base in West Bengal, the second squadron of Rafale will be stationed.

The Rafale is a modern fighter jet with agility, speed, weapon holding capacity and attack capability. The Dassault Rafale has a delta wing design and capable of g-forces as high as 11g (in case of emergency). The Rafale comes in both single and dual seating cabin (India ordered 28 single and 8 double seaters Rafale).

Mirage-2000

This is Indian Air Force's (IAF) most versatile and deadliest aircraft and was first commissioned in 1985. After inducting Mirage, IAF named it – Vajra – means lightning thunderbolt in Sanskrit. The Mirage-2000 took its first flight in 1978 which is developed by Dassault Aviation, in 1984 it was inducted in the French Air Force. India placed an order of 36 single-seater Mirage-2000 and 4 twin-seater Mirage 2000 in 1982. In the 1999 Kargil war the Mirage-2000 played a decisive role and seeing the accomplishment of the jets, the Indian government placed an additional order of 10 Mirage-2000 planes in 2004, making it to 50 jets.

HAL Tejas LCA

India borrowed its fighter jets from Russia, France and Britain under a license agreement to manufacture it in the native by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. In the 1980s the HAL initiated the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme to swap the Soviet sourced MiG-21. The former prime minister named LCA as Tejas – the 1st indigenously built fighter aircraft was introduced in the Indian Air Force with the IAF placing a 20 jet order initially, and the 1st Tejas Squadron was made in 2016 called the Flying Daggers. Till date, IAF has placed an order of 40 Tejas Mk 1, including 32 single-seat aircraft and eight twin-seat trainers. IAF has also started procurement of a further 73 single-seat fighters in Mk 1A configuration.

Mikoyan MiG-21

MiG 21 is the first supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history, most known fighter jets on Earth. The MiG 21 consists of a single-seater cockpit with a maximum speed of 1.05 match (1300 kmph). It has served 60 countries for more than 60 years, and the MiG 21 is still in service in many countries, as well as in India. In 1961, IAF opted for the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau manufactured MiG 21 and from then has bought more than 250 estimated units of these incredibly competent planes. MiG 21 played a crucial role in the 1971 India Pakistan War. They are used only as Interceptors with a minimum role as fighter jets and IAF is palnning to soon replace the remaining units of the MiG21 Bison with the Tejas LCA.

Sukhoi Su-30MKI

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI, the most advanced fighter jet in operation with the IAF and is the primary air to air and air to ground strike machine. It is also known as Flanker (NATO), the Su-30 MKI is made in India by HAL under a license agreement with Russia's Sukhoi. India and IAF exclusively use the Su-30MKI have 290 operational units of 30MKI till date. The first unit was built in 2002. The Sukhoi Su-30MKI has a maximum speed of Mach 2 (2120 kmph) and can takeoff weight of 38,800 kg. Sukhoi can carry a wide range of radars, missiles, bombs and event rockets.

Mikoyan MiG-27

The MiG 27 is a Soviet sourced ground-attack aircraft which is designed by Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau from the Soviet Union and built by HAL under a license agreement. The MiG27 is known as 'Bahadur', Valiant in English, in India and the IAF retired the last 27 ML squadron in 2017. Only a few countries, including India, operates the updated MiG-27 UPG ground attack aircraft. The 27s are based on the MiG23 with a redesigned nose and flies low altitude.

SEPECAT Jaguar

The SEPECAT Jaguar is a fighter jet developed by British Royal Air Force and French Air Force. At present only the Indian Air Force is using the upgraded Jaguar. The SEPECAT Jaguar serves IAF as primary ground attack aircraft and known as Shamsher. Indian Jaguar is different from the RAF's Jaguar and manufactured by HAL under a license agreement. Recently IAF upgraded its entire fleet of Jaguars by adding Avionics support; the only problem is its inability to fly high altitude with a heavy load.

Mikoyan MiG-29

This is one more Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau produced MiG called MiG 29. It was introduced in the 1970s to counter U.S. F-Series planes like F-15 and F-16 the MiG29 is known as Baaz which means Hawk in Hindi and forms the second line of defence after the Sukhoi Su-30MKI. The MiG-29 is exported to more than 30 nations, India being the first and one of the largest exporters of this jet. At present, the IAF uses the upgraded MiG-29 UPG, the most advanced MiG-29 variant ever. The MiG29 were extensively used in the Kargil to provide escort for Mirage-2000 attacking targets with laser-guided bombs.